A Thanksgiving Message to Kevin Krueger, Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts

October 16, 2009

The following written submission was delivered in person by Norman Armour (Executive Director of the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival) to Kevin Krueger, Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts for The Province of British Columbia at a roundtable session held October 15, 2009. A group of 25 community leaders from Vancouver’s Arts and Culture sector were in attendance. An edited version was read aloud, along with other submissions from and by each of the community leaders.

October 14, 2009

Dear Minister,

I am a builder by nature and ancestry.

My cousin, the late Mavor Moore, was also a builder. He came from a long line of playwrights, directors, actors, Fabians, theatre critics, historians, arts patrons, doctors, businessmen, engineers and occasional world travelers. With other members of his generation who came of age in the 40s and 50s, together they pioneered the whole-scale development of a new Canadian cultural identity, founding countless institutions, creating indelible works of art, new artistic forms and innovative practices, along with establishing the infrastructure and public policies that would enable the distribution of Canada’s artistic output to a citizenry in need of an authentic and distinct expression of their evolving identity—their sense of place, here at home, and in the world at large… CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL LETTER